Press Release

Based on the bestselling novel by Susanna Clarke, Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell dazzle as

they restore magic in England

New York – May 6, 2015– BBC AMERICA’s new original mini-series, Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell, is set during the Napoleonic Wars in an England where magic once existed and is about to return. So begins a dangerous battle between two great men. Eddie Marsan (Ray Donovan, The World’s End), Olivier award-winning Bertie Carvel (Restless, Matilda), Charlotte Riley (Wuthering Heights, Easy Virtue) and Alice Englert (Ginger & Rosa, Beautiful Creatures) star in the seven-part mini-series, which has been adapted from Susanna Clarke’s bestselling novel by Peter Harness (Wallander, Doctor Who) and directed by Toby Haynes (Sherlock, Doctor Who). Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell premieres Saturday, June 13, 10:00pm ET on BBC AMERICA. TRAILER LINK

1806. England is beleaguered by the long war with Napoleon and centuries have passed since practical magicians faded into the nation’s past. However, scholars of this glorious history discover that one remains – the reclusive and skillful Mr Norrell (Marsan). His displays of magic soon thrill the nation. In London, he raises the beautiful Lady Pole (Englert) from the dead and summons an army of ghostly ships to terrify the French.

Soon the cautious and fussy Norrell is challenged by the emergence of another magician: the brilliant novice Jonathan Strange (Carvel). While trying to secure his beloved Arabella’s (Riley) hand in marriage, he meets a vagabond, the magician of Threadneedle Street, Vinculus (Paul Kaye, Game of Thrones, Stella), who tells him he is destined to be a great magician. Young, handsome and daring, Strange is the very antithesis of Norrell. A dangerous battle ensues between the two great men. Their obsessions and secret dabbling’s with the dark arts will cause more trouble than they can imagine.

The cast includes Marc Warren (The Good Wife, Hustle) as The Gentleman, Samuel West (Mr Selfridge, Fleming: The Man Who Would Be Bond) as Sir Walter Pole, Enzo Cilenti (Prisoners Wives, Rome) as Childermass and Ariyon Bakare (The Dark Knight, Dancing on the Edge) as Stephen Black.

The producer is Nick Hirschkorn (Five Children and It) and the series is produced by Cuba Pictures Limited in association with Feel Films for BBC and co-produced with BBC AMERICA in association with Attraction Images for Bell Media, Far Moor Productions Ltd and Screen Yorkshire. The series was filmed in Yorkshire, Canada and Croatia.

Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell is part of BBC AMERICA’s drama slate which includes original series Broadchurch, Orphan Black, Luther and Ripper Street as well as new series London Spy and The Last Kingdom.

Sir Walter Pole Samuel West (Mr Selfridge, Fleming: The Man Who Would Be Bond)

Lady Pole Alice Englert (Ginger & Rosa, Beautiful Creatures)

The Gentleman Marc Warren (The Good Wife, Hustle)

Childermass Enzo Cilenti (Prisoners Wives, Rome)

Vinculus Paul Kaye (Game of Thrones, Stella)

Stephen Black Ariyon Bakare (The Dark Knight, Dancing on the Edge)

Writer Peter Harness (Wallander, Is Anybody There?)

Producer Nick Hirschkorn (Five Children and It)

Director Toby Haynes (Sherlock, Wallander, Doctor Who)

Executive Producer Matthew Read (BBC)

Executive Producer Nick Marston (Cuba Pictures)

Executive Producer Dixie Linder (Cuba Pictures)

Executive Producer Tally Garner (Cuba Pictures)

Executive Producer Justin Thomson-Glover (Far Moor)

Executive Producer Patrick Irwin (Far Moor)

Executive Producer Toby Haynes

CHARACTER GUIDE

MR NORRELL (EDDIE MARSAN)

Mr Norrell is an intellectual, reclusive, fussy man in his fifties. Self-proclaimed as England’s greatest and only magician, he resides in Yorkshire at Hurtfew Abbey, a dark, brooding house with a beautiful magical library. With a little help from Childermass, his cunning and surly man of business, he restores magic in England, and is encouraged to help the government in the war against Napoleon.

JONATHAN STRANGE (BERTIE CARVEL)

Jonathan Strange is from Shropshire – a handsome and daring man in his thirties. He is struggling to find his occupation and still living with his father – a crabby old man named Laurence. Desperate to win the hand of his beloved Arabella, he grasps at the opportunity of becoming a magician, after a chance encounter with Vinculus, the magician of Threadneedle Street.

ARABELLA (CHARLOTTE RILEY)

Arabella is a strong-willed and patient woman who also lives in Shropshire, where her brother Henry is the rector at the local parish. Pursued by the charming Jonathan Strange, she soon becomes the wife of the self-taught magician, and becomes tangled in magical happenings.

SIR WALTER POLE (SAMUEL WEST)

Sir Walter Pole is a charismatic, impressive politician in his forties. He is concerned for his fiancée, the future Lady Pole, who is very sick. He lives in London where his butler, Stephen Black, is very much in charge of the Pole household. After initially dismissing the notion that Mr Norrell can help the war, he soon becomes an advocate of English magic.

LADY POLE (ALICE ENGLERT)

Emma Wintertowne is 19 years-old and soon to become Lady Pole. Sadly the beautiful and intelligent young woman is very sick and passes away just before her marriage to Sir Walter Pole. Mr Norrell agrees to perform a very dangerous spell to raise her back from the dead, not foreseeing the dangerous consequences on her future existence.

THE GENTLEMAN (MARC WARREN)

The Gentleman with the thistle-down hair is a faerie spirit summoned by Mr Norrell to help with the spell he performed to restore Lady Pole’s life. Always susceptible to the charms of an elegant woman, he cunningly devises a contract with Mr Norrell, which has terrible consequences for the Pole household and beyond…

SYNOPSES

EPISODE ONE – THE FRIENDS OF ENGLISH MAGIC

1806. Magic once existed in England but it has long faded – that is until the reclusive Mr Norrell is discovered in Yorkshire. He comes to London to offer the government his services as a magician – but rising politician Sir Walter Pole refuses to align himself with such a disrespectable art. Disconsolate at his lack of success, Mr Norrell is set to return home, until news comes of the death of Sir Walter’s sickly, and wealthy, fiancée. Mr Norrell makes a dangerous pact with a mysterious Gentleman to restore her to life, proving magic respectable and establishing himself as the greatest magician in the land. Meanwhile, the charming and dissolute Jonathan Strange, more interested in drinking wine and winning the hand of the beautiful Arabella than reading dusty magical books, discovers he too has magical powers.

EPISODE TWO – HOW IS LADY POLE?

Mr Norrell’s magical illusions baffle the French Navy and win him the loyalty of Sir Walter Pole, but the magic he performed to revive Lady Pole has released something unnatural into Sir Walter’s home – a mysterious unseen Gentleman with thistledown hair. Jonathan Strange’s magical ability grows, and he comes to London take up an apprenticeship with Mr Norrell. But Norrell is reluctant to share his knowledge and refuses to teach Strange the ancient magic of the legendary Raven King. Later the two magicians are called to rescue a stricken ship. Meanwhile the Gentlemen has appeared to and enchanted Sir Walter’s impressive butler. Each night Stephen Black is drawn to an attic door that leads him to the mansion of Lost-hope, where he discovers Lady Pole trapped in an endless waltz.

BBC AMERICA delivers U.S. audiences high-quality, innovative and intelligent programming. Established in 1998, it has been the launch pad for talent embraced by American mainstream pop culture, including Ricky Gervais, Gordon Ramsay, Graham Norton, and successful programming formats including ground-breaking non-scripted television like Top Gear and top-rated science-fiction like Doctor Who. A joint venture between BBC Worldwide, the commercial arm of the BBC, and AMC Networks, BBC AMERICA has attracted both critical acclaim and major awards including four Emmy® Awards, five Golden Globes® and 12 Peabody Awards. The channel attracts one of cable’s most affluent and educated audiences and is available on cable and satellite TV in nearly 80 million homes. It broadcasts in both standard and high-definition, with content available On Demand across all major digital platforms. Online, www.BBCAmerica.com is the place to go to dig deeper into pop culture with a British twist. Find out more by visiting www.Press.BBCAmerica.com/ or follow us on www.twitter.com/BBCAMERICA.